[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 9, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5389-S5391]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of
reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank. I am on the floor with the
Senator from Washington, Senator Cantwell, who has been such a leader
as head of the small business committee on this issue.
As I heard the Senator from Maryland talk about the importance of
student loans to our economy and the importance to our economy for
having people being able to go out there and get the education and fill
the jobs today, another piece of this is to make sure those markets are
available, to make sure our businesses are able to compete
internationally, both small and big, with companies from across the
world. This means jobs in America. Exports are critical to the U.S.
economy, and we need to help our businesses, small and large, boost
their exports.
When 95 percent of the world's customers live outside of our borders,
there is literally a world of opportunity out there for U.S. business.
It used to be we were just focused on Canada, especially in Minnesota,
and Mexico, but we know there is a world of opportunity in emerging
markets in places such as Asia and Africa, for us to finally be making
things in America and having people buy them in other countries.
As a Senator, I have been working to boost America's ability to
compete in the global economy and to open up these markets. That is why
I strongly support reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.
I thank Senator Cantwell for her efforts in leading this fight, and I
thank leadership on both sides of the banking committee.
As Senate chair of the Joint Economic Committee, today I am releasing
a report on ``The Contribution of Exports to Economic Growth and the
Important Role of the Export-Import Bank.''
According to one analysis, exports are projected to account for
almost 40 percent of real U.S. GDP growth over this decade.
We know we have stabilized the economy in America, but the only way
we are going to be able to expand it, to add more jobs, to make sure
people are working at their fullest potential, is to be able to export
things to other countries with these emerging middle classes in places
such as India and other countries where we can actually sell our goods.
This report highlights that the Export-Import Bank plays a crucial
role in supporting businesses, particularly small businesses, to find
markets for their products. What does the report show? Well, first it
shows the economy has expanded for the past 4 years and U.S. exports
have been the ticket to that growth.
Last year U.S. exports of goods reached an all-time high, $2.3
trillion or 13.5 percent of U.S. GDP, an increase of 35 percent since
2009. Think of the jobs that means in America.
In 2013, U.S. exports of goods and services were responsible for 11.3
million jobs, an increase of 1.6 million jobs since 2009.
Manufacturing and agricultural producers have also been able to
increase their exports, supporting economic recovery and job growth. In
the manufacturing sector, nearly 25 percent of production is exported
and these exports are responsible for about 3 million jobs.
I see this in Minnesota. In 2013, our goods and services exports rose
to $20.7 billion, and Minnesota was ranked the fourth largest
agriculture exporting State in 2012, up from sixth in 2011.
Do you know what that means in real terms? Our unemployment rate is
down to 4.5 percent. Our Twin Cities area has the lowest unemployment
rate of any metropolitan area in the country, and it is very much about
exports. Companies--not just the big ones, but the small ones--that
have learned to export and are willing to use the tools to export,
means using the Export-Import Bank.
Yet U.S. exporters, as we all know, are competing with foreign
producers in places such as Germany, France, and China, which are
backed by their own countries' credit export programs and often receive
other government subsidies.
I ask my friends who are slowing down this reauthorization, how can
we say to our U.S. companies, big and small, that we are going to allow
60 other countries, including the top 10 exporting countries globally--
that they can have credit export programs but our companies can't have
them in the United States?
I will show you what I mean by this report.
I commend to colleagues the September 2014 Joint Economic Committee
report, ``The Contribution of Exports to Economic Growth and the
Important Role of the Export-Import Bank,'' that I referred to earlier.
On the graph and report in figure 2 we show ``Comparison between U.S.
and Other Countries' Export Credit Subsidies.''
What do these numbers show? This number is about ``New medium- and
long-term official export credit volumes, 2013, billions of U.S.
dollars.'' It shows that China's medium- and long-term credit export
volumes are at $45.5 billion.
That is what we are doing and that is why we see them--as Senator
Cantwell will discuss--going into markets such as Africa and opening
those markets up for their companies, because they are willing to help
them out of their own version of the Export-Import Bank--$45.5 billion
in China.
Germany, a very successful economy, is at $22.6 billion in credit
volume. Where is the United States? We are at $14.5 billion. We are
above countries such as France, Italy, and Brazil, but we are below
countries such as China, Germany, and South Korea.
You can imagine the impact if we got rid of the Export-Import Bank.
You can imagine--which we cannot allow to happen.
The Export-Import Bank was first authorized in 1934. It supports U.S.
businesses by providing financing that the private sector that may be
unable or unwilling to do at competitive rates. The Export-Import Bank
does this by providing loans, loan guarantees, and insurance policies
to increase export opportunities.
In 2013, as our study shows, the Export-Import Bank supported
approximately 205,000 U.S. jobs and $37.4 billion in U.S. exports. It
made 745 new loans and loan guarantees worth $21.8 billion.
By issuing these loans, loan guarantees, and insurance policies, the
Export-Import Bank helped provide funding for projects ranging from
short-term investments to more complex and long-term transactions such
as transportation and other infrastructure projects.
The Export-Import Bank also steps in to provide credit to open up
these new markets such as Africa, as I have focused on. For example, in
the past 4 years the Export-Import Bank has provided authorization for
more than $4 billion in support for U.S. export to sub-Saharan Africa,
yet China is still ahead of us.
The Export-Import Bank provides support to many industries,
everything from gas and oil, to space and telecommunications, to
agribusiness.
The Export-Import Bank supports U.S. exports to more than 150
countries, small business. This is what I
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hear all across our State since 114 small Minnesota businesses have
received financing over the past few years.
The big businesses tend to have trade exports, right? They have
exports they want to go to Uruguay or Kazakhstan or somewhere in the
world. They can have some special person who knows the language and who
can help them and hire a consultant in the country. How can a small
business do that? Yet they know their product is going to sell in these
other countries.
That is where the Export-Import Bank comes in, because working with
our foreign commercial service, they are able to get the tools they
need, small businesses, to compete at the same level as big businesses.
In August I visited Balzer, an agricultural equipment manufacturer
based in Mountain Lake, MN, a town of about 2,000 people. Balzer
currently employs 74 people in Mountain Lake, 74 people out of 2,000.
It has made a real difference, the Export-Import Bank, for their
company. Exports are approximately 15 percent of their sales.
Or how about Superior Industries in Morris. There are 5,000 people in
that town and 500 people employed at the company. They are now
exporting, thanks to the Ex-Im Bank, to Canada, Australia, Russia,
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil.
How would they would get into Uruguay? Do we think their small
community bank--which we love--is going to be able to help them figure
out Uruguay financing? No.
That is why we have the Ex-Im Bank. It helps these small businesses
to make major decisions, to finance major products and major deals, so
they can actually have jobs in the United States that are providing
exports to these other countries.
That is what this is all about. It is critical. We have to
reauthorize this proven Ex-Im Bank and make sure our exporters are
competing on a level playing field in a global market.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate my colleague,
cochair of the Joint Economic Committee, for her report on the
importance of the contribution of exports to our economy and for the
Export-Import Bank.
The report she is issuing today has a picture of cargo container
ships leaving the Port of Miami. I could say that this picture could be
any number of ports around the United States of America, certainly in
my State, where one in three jobs is related to trade.
I very much appreciate the Joint Economic Committee highlighting at
this point in time how important the export economy is to the U.S.
economy. My colleague comes from a similar State where we like to say
we make a lot of great manufactured products--and we are very proud
they are sold in the international marketplace--but now is no time to
basically curtail credit agencies' ability to help make those sales a
reality when we have had fabulous U.S.-made products.
So I very much appreciate the Joint Economic Committee's release of
this report. It is showing that our economy--even though we faced this
very disastrous financial collapse 6 years ago--that report basically
shows that last week the trade deficit continued to decline. A headline
just recently said: ``Trade deficit at 6-month low as exports climb.''
So it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that a growing
middle class around the globe is an excellent opportunity for us to
sell U.S. manufactured products. In fact, the middle class is going to
double over the next 15 years. So that is a great opportunity for us to
take American-made products and get them into this marketplace.
In fact, last year American companies exported more goods and
services--totaling $2.3 trillion in value, 13.5 percent of our gross
domestic product. So that is a step in the right direction. But that is
being threatened if Congress does not reauthorize this important credit
agency to make sure these deals get closed. That is why today we are
here to make sure that a long-term reauthorization of the Export-Import
Bank is implemented.
Now, I know we already have about 240 Members of the House of
Representatives who are on record saying they support a long-term
extension of the Export-Import Bank. I know there are many Senators
here in the Senate who support that. So why is this taking so long?
Some people are even suggesting that we can do just a 2-month extension
or a 3-month extension. Well, I can tell you how ridiculous that idea
is because it does not give any certainty and predictability to
businesses that are trying to close deals.
In fact, one business exporter from Texas said:
The Export-Import Bank is absolutely essential to maintain
and grow our businesses. . . . Recent reports on the
uncertainty of the Bank's future may have already impacted
our bottom line. Our customers need the certainty of export
credit to continue many of their sales abroad.
So this individual Texas company is such a reflection of the fact
that exports are U.S. jobs. In fact, it is $2.3 trillion in goods and
services, and 11.3 million jobs in the United States are related to
exports, many of those in manufactured products.
So why would we take and risk these kinds of numbers with the
uncertainty of a credit agency that helps close these deals? With that
many jobs and that much economic impact at stake, why would we suggest
that we only want to reauthorize it for a couple of months? I think
that is a very wrongheaded approach.
We have heard from many other companies. One from Georgia was able to
increase its annual sales from roughly $500,000 to over $20 million in
just a few years and was able to do so with the Export-Import Bank.
We have 21 days left to get this right and to help our economy
continue to grow, but we have to do something here in the Senate; and
that is, pass the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.
While we were home in August, we heard many people talk about this
issue. In fact, I would like to put up a few newspaper headlines that
we saw around the country. One is from the Roanoke Times, which was an
editorial that said: ``In our view, small businesses need this.'' They
called for the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. Another
newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, editorialized in support: ``Reauthorize
the Ex-Im Bank.'' And the Columbus Dispatch editorialized: ``Ohioans
benefit from Export-Import bank.''
So these are just three of the editorials heard all around the
country that are asking us to reauthorize this important credit agency
and make sure we are giving small businesses and manufacturers the
tools it takes to export.
But my colleague, who is the Joint Economic Committee chair, brought
up an even more specific point; that is, where are we going to be in
competition as it relates to China when they are chasing economic
opportunity all around the globe? In fact, an editorial that was in the
Chicago Tribune on August 15 said: ``Sub-Saharan Africa's economy is
growing about 5.4 percent a year--outpacing the global rate of 3.6
percent . . .'' So here is Africa with lots of economic opportunity. It
is home to many very fast-growing economies in Angola, Nigeria, and
Ethiopia. They go on to say: ``The Ex-Im Bank plays a vital niche role
in the U.S. economy as backstop because commercial banks and other
financial firms often find ways to say `no' to deals involving selling
goods in developing countries.'' That is from the Chicago Tribune.
So newspapers around America get it. This is a key tool for us to
access new opportunities that are emerging in developing countries. The
fact is, China is already there, they are selling products, they are
using their credit agency to help close deals. Why? Because a lot of
banks are uncomfortable, either with the size of the deal, the lack of
financial players in those emerging markets, and the inability to get
these deals closed without the export bank and its assistants.
Another editorial that was in the Boston Globe actually talked about
a U.S. company that lost a deal because of our inability to make a
decision here. A California company ``lost a $57 million contract this
year because of ideological posturing in Washington.'' It is ``a self-
inflicted economic wound.'' They are talking about a firm that ``lost
its bid to sell technology'' that was going to be used in the
Philippines only because the Korean competitor
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could guarantee that their export-import bank would be there.
That is another example that we are not even waiting right now to
have the negative impact; we are already having the negative impact
because we are not getting this done.
So it is very important we make sure we reauthorize the Export-Import
Bank. As one company in my State said, the Norwest Ingredients company:
``Loss of the export insurance provided by EX-IM Bank would be
devastating to my business . . .,'' that a short-term extension of the
Export-Import Bank does not provide the certainty that we need to
finance these deals.
I think this is so much what we need to be focusing on. I appreciate
my colleague's contribution from the Joint Economic Committee to this
report. She talked again about the specifics of what other countries
are doing.
This chart shows you the percentage of credit agency resources
against a country's GDP--how much they are investing in selling their
products around the globe. So we can see what India, China, France, and
Germany are doing to basically dwarf what we are doing as far as making
sure our products are sold around the globe.
I wish the financial market was there to help close these
transactions. But just as we have a small business administration that
helps get financial backers to back small businesses, the Export-Import
Bank helps U.S. manufacturers sell their products overseas.
We have too much of a supply chain in the United States of America,
with manufacturing in aerospace, in agriculture, and in automobiles, to
give it all away by simply not reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank in
a timely fashion.
So I again appreciate the cochair of the Joint Economic Committee in
the release of a report focusing on why exports are so important to our
economy.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, how much time do we have?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republicans have no time remaining. There
are 3 minutes on the Democratic side.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I just want to be recognized for the 3
minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, one, I want to thank my colleague, Senator
Klobuchar from Minnesota, of the Joint Economic Committee, for making
the case on why the Ex-Im Bank is a good government program essential
to creating jobs in America from export sales.
Boeing is in South Carolina; they are in Washington. Senator Cantwell
has been a champion of this issue as long as I have been around. Now
that Boeing is making 787s in South Carolina, I will just put this on
the table: 8 out of 10 787s made in South Carolina are Ex-Im financed.
We are competing in the wide-body market with countries such as France;
China will be getting in this market. Every competitor of Boeing--GE
makes gas turbines in Greenville. Most of those are sold in the Mideast
through Ex-Im financing. Every competitor of these two large companies
in South Carolina has an Ex-Im Bank.
So to my colleagues in the House, I think I am a pretty conservative
guy, but I am also practical. Why in the world would we shut our bank
down when China is growing their bank? The Chinese would support
closing the Ex-Im Bank in America; so would the French; so would the
Canadians; so would the British. If you really want to give the
American economy a kick in the wrong place, shut our bank down and
allow the other countries that compete with us to keep theirs open.
There is plenty of waste in the government. So we pick one program
that is small in number, in terms of actual volume that makes money for
the Treasury and creates hundreds of thousands of job opportunities.
This is smart conservatism? This is what conservatism has come to be,
that you take a program--that allows American companies to compete in
the international market, that makes money for the American taxpayer--
and you shut it down just to prove to people you are ideologically
pure? That is not conservatism. That is crazy, and we are not going to
let it happen.
To my Democratic friends, we should have reauthorized this a long
time ago in a process befitting the Senate. There is well over half of
my conference ready to vote for reforms on the Ex-Im Bank, but we are
not doing anything in this body, and you are not going to pick our
amendments. So there is plenty of blame to go around.
I hope we are smart enough as a House and a Senate to get this right,
not to shut down the Ex-Im Bank that makes money for the taxpayer,
creates thousands of American jobs, for some ideological reason
disconnected with reality.
China would love this. France would love this. When it comes to my
State, it would be devastating to the small businesses that benefit
from Ex-Im financing. If you can close their banks down, count me in,
we will close ours. But I will be damned if we are going to close ours
when they have theirs up and running to put people out of work in my
State and all over this country when you are talking about the best-
paying jobs in America.
I look forward to a further discussion on this topic.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time for debate has expired.
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